Omer Asik's been great on the defensive boards for the Houston Rockets, grabbing nearly 28 percent of opponents' misses during his time on the court this season. The Toronto Raptors, the Rockets' Tuesday night opponents, kind of stink on the offensive glass, posting the league's ninth-worst offensive rebounding percentage thus far. Logic, then, dictates that just about whenever the Raptors missed a shot on Tuesday, if Asik was out there, he'd be Hoovering it and quickly tossing an outlet pass to Houston table-setters James Harden and Jeremy Lin.
And then plays like this happen, and you're reminded that logic doesn't always reign in a game with a round ball that bounces funny from time to time:
Welp. Not precisely the kind of defensive glass-cleaning Houston's come to expect from its 26-year-old starting center.
Rockets interim coach Kelvin Sampson couldn't have been too furious at his Turkish charge, though, considering Asik grabbed 18 boards (15 of which came off Toronto misses) without scoring own goals while pouring 13 points into the proper basket to help the Rockets cruise to a comfortable 117-101 win over the Raptors. That'll help take the sting out of what might otherwise be construed as an all-time "whoops," as will the fact that Asik is by no means the first NBA big man to commit such a blunder in recent memory — Rasheed Wallace, Darko Milicic and Mickell Gladness all feel Asik's pain.
Also, if you needed a reminder of just how much better the quality of play in the NBA is than what you'll find in some other leagues around the globe, this should do it. I mean, that Belgian dude took four shots at his own rim and couldn't even make one. Man, Omer Asik would tear that league up.
Video via nbainfos.
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